You’ve got to be in it to win it

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Legendary runner Haile Gebrselassie went into the Dubai Marathon hoping to break the world record he set in Germany in 2008.

Everyone wanted the world record to be broken, for Dubai, for Adidas, for Gatorade. And so when, in a rare Dubai rain deluge the record remained intact, the event could only ever be considered an anticlimax.

Prior to the race, Gebrselassie was invited by Adidas and Fitness First to run a clinic. You may think this sounds encouraging and contradicts the evidence presented so far. However, consider that it was run for the sole benefit of winners of an Adidas promotion and consisted merely of Gebrselassie extolling the benefits of the latest Adidas trainer and being photographed pointing admiringly at its cushioned sole and breathable instep. He looked as bemused as journalists waiting for their allotted 45 second interview.

The message seems clear: Dubai is looking for plaudits rather than players.

Grassroots sport in the emirates does not always have the easiest of times, either. For example, there used to be thriving cricket team, some 30 years old, in the city called the Darjeeling club. They even had their own ground on the Al Ain road. Players from all parts of the globe gathered at the weekend to turn their arm and strike the ball to the boundary.

However, while the club still exists in name, it has only played one fixture in six months because its ground was dug up to make way for the Meydan arena, which has been a wasteland for months awaiting its makeover into one of the most exclusive horse racing tracks in the world.

That said, perhaps the early months of 2009 are a cause for a degree of optimism. The government and the Sports Council have announced that funding will be made available to sportsmen and women to give them adequate time to train for events such as the Olympics.

The announcement was also good news for the country’s cricketers, some of whom, such as all-rounder Qasim Zubair, had been forced upon graduating from college to make a choice between cricket and career, and had reluctantly accepted that bills had to come before balls. However, the new initiative should hopefully allow the players the opportunity to focus, at least in the build up to tournaments, on their skills, while sporting federations arrange their leave and compensate their employers.

Recently, Dubai hosted the Rugby Sevens World Cup. Although the local Arabian Gulf team failed to win a game on their World Cup debut, the International Rugby Board made it one of their prime objectives to leave a legacy for the sport in the host emirate. The result has been the establishment of an all-Arabic challenge cup, the integration of nationals into club sides, and even the elevation of an Arabic player into the UAE senior squad. Combined with the ‘Right to Play’ programme, that seeks to promote sporting opportunities to young people, it is certainly a step in the right direction.

Sport City is beginning to take shape and will house a bewildering array of academies, sports science clinics and world-class stadia. While it hopes to host the cream of international sports’ events, there is no doubt that having such world-class facilities in Dubai will be a spur to aspiring local talent.

It is disappointing that it took a looming obesity epidemic to secure belated sports funding from the government, and the Sports Council’s eagerness to promote ‘beach’ games just serves as a sad indictment of the lack of recreational facilities and open spaces in the city.

However, there are some signs that UAE sporting stars will emerge in the next generation and be given the facilities, infrastructure and support networks to make it to the top of the tree. Even if only one local sportsman can win a tournament or make a splash on the front and back pages, it might just provide the outpouring of national pride required to justify further investment. This could then set in motion a cycle of development feeding success. Perhaps then the UAE could be renowned as a sporting nation rather than merely a sporting venue.

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